The Giles Government must tell the public what steps it has taken to protect children from further abuse in juvenile detention, not only in Darwin but Alice Springs, since the furore around the Northern Territory detention system erupted 11 days ago.
While the announcement of the Royal Commission is a welcome step, the process so far has done little to immediately help the children still locked up in the Northern Territory.
Brutal culture
Amnesty International understands that 39 children remain in detention in the Northern Territory. Almost all children in NT detention are Indigenous.
“What is being done – right now- to protect these children from further abuse?” asked Rodney Dillon, Indigenous Rights Adviser at Amnesty International Australia.
“We have seen how dangerous the detention culture is for children, a culture that sees nothing wrong with using teargas on kids and laughing about it.
I’m worried about the impact on children still in detention. These children need protection right now.
Rodney Dillon, Amnesty International
“That brutal culture goes right through the system – from the MPs at the top who voted in May for the use of restraint chairs, down to the staff member who threatens to ‘pulverise’ a child in his care. That culture won’t have changed overnight, and I’m worried about the impact on children still in detention. These children need protection right now.”
Action needed
Since the Four Corners program aired, the NT Government announced it was reviewing, then banning, restraint chairs, 10 weeks after legislating to confirm the legality of their use.
The Government also briefly considered moving children from the current Don Dale detention centre, the former Berrimah Prison once described as being fit only for bulldozing. It has also announced it will build a purpose-built facility to house juveniles.
The children in Don Dale detention centre should be urgently moved to a more appropriate facility, in consultation with local Indigenous health and legal organisations.
The children in Don Dale detention centre should be urgently moved to a more appropriate facility, in consultation with local Indigenous health and legal organisations.
Prevention is the answer
“It shouldn’t be that hard to provide family support, social services and rehabilitation for just 40 kids and families. These children have problems, of course. They needed help, but they were let down. Most children would not end up in detention if these families and their communities had been supported, before children got to the point of committing offences. Prevention is the answer,” said Rodney Dillon.
The Federal Government, too, must not use the machinations of the Royal Commission as an excuse to stall any longer in enacting urgent change to protect these children.
Malcolm Turnbull and the Federal Government have had an option open since 2009 that could put a stop to abuses in detention across Australia: ratifying the Optional Protocol to the Convention Against Torture. After ratification, independent monitoring of all places of detention becomes mandatory, so the type of conditions suffered by the Don Dale children could not go unreported.
“It is not good enough that all levels of Government have claimed ignorance of detention abuse for so long; But, now that there is no hiding from the shameful truth, we must see real and urgent action, without waiting for the Royal Commission to have impact.”
Rodney Dillon, Amnesty International
“It is not good enough that all levels of Government have claimed ignorance of detention abuse for so long; But, now that there is no hiding from the shameful truth, we must see real and urgent action, without waiting for the Royal Commission to have impact,” said Rodney Dillon.
Background
The NT Government has chosen not to fund youth services and programs which would work with children and young people to give them every chance of success.
As the NT News recently observed, this government allocated $1.2 million towards youth justice programs in 2016/17, down from the $2 million spent in 2015/16.
A $3 million funding cut in 2012 forced the closure of a youth drop-in centre and the end of night-time activities run by local Aboriginal organisations in Alice Springs.
While they cut services that give kids a safe, supportive space, a sense of purpose and hope for the future, the NT government is investing heavily in ensuring these children sink further into the quicksand that is the justice system.
While they cut services that give kids a safe, supportive space, a sense of purpose and hope for the future, the NT government is investing heavily in ensuring these children sink further into the quicksand that is the justice system.
Instead of investing in helping to pull them out of this quicksand, the government is planning to build a bigger sandpit.
In the recent budget, they allocated an extra $2.5 million to “meet demand” at the Don Dale Youth Detention Centre and $4.5 million in operational funding for the Territory’s prisons to cater for “increased prisoner numbers.”
